Jaded
by Artistard3
Summary: What if Jade's mom had died when she was young? What if Jade had a twin sister who she stopped talking to after their mother's death and that was why she was so cynical all of the time? (Features Cade friendship and minimal Bade romance) a little AU... PS (please ignore the cliche title... I'll change it when I can think of something better)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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Lydia and Jade used to be best friends, before their mom died. They used to do everything together. Lydia was only born thirteen minutes before Jade, and she never let Jade forget it. They used to tell each other everything. They didn't physically tell each other everything, but they had an understanding that was deep enough to not have to.

Lydia and Jade were total opposites. Lydia loved people. She loved talking and meeting new people. And Jade didn't. She hated it.

Jade used to be obsessed with art: drawing, painting, photography, singing, writing, acting; you name it. Jade spent a lot of time inside her head. Her sister was into sculpting and singing, a little bit, but not like Jade was. Lydia was popular, she was sociable. She had other things to do.

The twins were raised in a house that was big on the arts. They went to regular school. But their parents taught them things when they weren't in school. When other kids were reading books like _Junie B. Jones_ , the twins were learning about artists like Claude Monet and Picasso, and many Broadway actors and actresses.

Their mom really wanted them to end up going to Hollywood Arts, a great, prestigious, high school that opened down the street from them. They spent a lot of time practicing for it. They wanted it too. Jade probably more so than Lydia.

It was weird, though. Never once did Jade see her mom's artwork. Jade assumed she couldn't do it at all. She assumed she only had book knowledge.

When Jade was entering into eighth grade, her mom died. Her mom committed suicide, which was a surprise to the whole family. They had no clue she was unhappy, but then she left them. They never found out why. But it tore Jade's family apart.

Lydia, their dad and Jade spent a lot of time alone.

Jade had been sitting at home with Lydia, when they found out she died. The girls were in the den, doing homework, when there was a knock on their front door, just like every cliche movie out there. It had been a police officer. He had asked if their father was home. Lydia took the lead, talking to him, since she was better with people. She explained that he was at work.

The twins knew something was wrong, they could see it on his face. So Lydia demanded that he told them what it was. Their mother had stepped into front of a moving train. That's how she died.

Jade started wearing black and she started hating everything. Her dad would hide away at work so the girls wouldn't have to see him upset. Lydia started ignoring the problem. She pretended like nothing changed. But it had.

Jade met a redheaded girl named Cat who was very emotional. She moved in next door. She came over to the house a lot, and the two girls would sing songs and Cat would look at Jade's art. She was Jade's first friend besides Lydia.

Lydia, Cat, and Jade had tried to get into Holly wood Arts for ninth grade.

Cat and Jade got in, but Lydia didn't. Lydia stopped taking singing and acting classes and she stopped sculpting, and she starting acting like she never cared about any of it. Lydia made friends with bitchy people who insulted Jade and called her weird. And Lydia never did anything to stop them. It was awful.

Whenever Jade was home alone, she would spend her time drawing or singing.

One night, when Jade was listening to music and drawing a picture of Cat with a charcoal, Lydia peaked her head into Jade's room.

"My friends are coming over tonight, Jade," Lydia warned Jade, stepping inside her room.

Lately, that's how things went down. They hadn't had a nice conversation in years.

"Okay," Jade mumbled, not looking up from the drawing she was doing.

"Have you seen the new red headed girl?" Lydia asked. Of course Jade had seen her. She hadn't told Lydia about Cat yet, but she was one of Jade's first friends. She came over to the house all the time.

"Yeah," Jade said.

"I saw her playing with her brother or something across the street. She's like a child. She's so weird. Her brother is insane. God, they're weirder than you, even," Lydia said. Ever since she didn't get to Hollywood Arts, she had been harboring anger at Jade. It made the two drift apart.

"Well," Lydia backtracks. "That girl is probably not weirder than you. _Nobody's_ weirder than you," she laughed, making Jade look into her eyes. Jade hated when she was like this. She knew Jade wasn't going to try to fight back; it took to much energy.

"I don't know, J," she said, making a clicking sound with her mouth. It's just like Lydia to use a friendly childhood nickname right before an insult.

"Why do you have to be so... so... so _you_ all the time. It's..." Lydia trials off.

"It's what?" Jade quirked my eyebrows angrily, snapping her charcoal like a neck.

"It's just so _embarrassing_. It's embarrassing to be around you. You've changed so much ever since mom died," Lydia commented

"At least I'm still me," Jade spat, setting my broken charcoal down.

"What do you mean? You think I've changed because I have new friends? There's nothing wrong with having friends who aren't you," she glares at Jade, defending herself.

"I have other friends too," Jade growls.

"Who? Ones that you draw don't count," she says smirking at me, making Jade want to strangle her.

"I'm friends with Cat, the girl you called weird. She got into Hollywood Arts, you know. And I'm friends with Beck and Robbie and Andre," Jade said, even though she didn't like them that much. Beck was cool, though. Andre was okay, and Robbie was a little bizarre. They were friends with Cat, so by default, they were friends with Jade.

"Ugh, whatever you say. Just don't bother us, okay? They already don't like you," she rolled her eyes, leaving Jade's room.

It took a lot of will power not to take her scissors and start cutting up everything in her room. Lydia and Jade used to be best friends. And Jade hated what had happened that caused them to drift apart.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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Jade spent a lot of time avoiding Lydia. It was easier that way. Jade noticed that spending time with people like Cat and Beck made her happier (although she'd never let them know that).

Beck and Jade, after about half a year of flirting, finally started dating. And it was great. Beck and Cat were the only people who knew about her mom, and they were also the only people who knew about Lydia.

Lydia and Jade rarely talked though. Jade and her dad rarely talked either. He talked to Lydia. Jade think it's because Lydia didn't go to Hollywood Arts. Her dad probably hated that Jade continued to like art like her mother.

It was so weird, on their birthday. Jade's dad wanted the three of them them to be home together, so they all sang Happy Birthday in their kitchen, in front of a big icecream cake. The room was so tense, it was insane. They blew out the candles, and wordlessly ate the cake.

"Happy Birthday, girlies," their dad said. He had been saying that since their first birthday.

Jade snorted. The day wasn't happy. All of them knew it too.

"What's so funny?" Lydia asked.

"Us. This. Pretending that we don't all hate each other," Jade explained, shaking my head.

"We don't hate each other," their dad said adamantly.

"Then why is this the first time we've talked as a family in over two months?" Jade asked.

Their dad looked down. He was still hurt over their mom's death. They all were.

"It's been really hard without your mother around. I know that's not an excuse for being a bad father," he said, his eyes almost filled with tears. Lydia and Jade exchanged a look. They had only seen their dad cry twice. The first time was the day her got the news of Mom's death. The second time was at her funeral.

"You're not a bad father," Lydia said, taking the lead like she always did.

Jade nodded. Lydia went to go hug their dad, so Jade followed her. They sat there in silence for about five minutes, just holding each other. When Lydia broke the hug, they all followed.

"I love you girls, alright? You know that, don't you?" He asked. They nodded, not saying told them to stay in the kitchen while he went to go get their presents.

He got Jade some new art supplies, and he got Lydia a gift card to the mall. "It's easier that way. I didn't know what type of clothes you like. Your mom used to do that," he laughed.

"Thank you, Dad," she said.

Jade repeated her.

They left to go to their rooms.

About ten minutes later, as Jade

was walking to Lydia's room, Jade bumped into her. Jade was going to give Lydia her present. It turns out, Lydia was going to give Jade hers as well. They exchanged gifts, half smiling. Even though their relationship was rocky, they still loved each other.

Jade ended up giving her a painting she did of Lydia. Lydia ended up giving Jade a ceramic sculpture she made of their mom and the two of them in her stomach. It was slightly creepy, but then again, Jade loved that stuff.

Jade that she almost cried as she saw it, but she did. She almost cried because she missed her mom. She almost cried because it reminded her of the times when they used to talk to each other instead of avoid each other. And She almost cried because Lydia was still doing art. She hadn't changed completely, which Jade was happy about.

They never talked about it again. That's how life was.

Jade spent the weekend with Cat, trying to soak up some of her positivity to get over the lack of it in my life. It turns out Cat planned a birthday party, with Andre, Robbie, and Beck. Jade pretended like it didn't meant much to her, but it meant a lot that these people she barely knew would do something like that for her.

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Life was good. Jade spent most of the time outside of school hanging with Beck and Cat, and sometimes Andre and Robbie.

To most people, Jade's friendship with Cat looked like it was nothing but casual. It looked like Jade hated her. But that's not true. Cat meant more to Jade than Beck ever did. Cat was her first friend. She was there when Jade's mom died. She knew all of Jade's secrets. And Jade knew all of hers.

A lot of people thought Cat was dumb, but I knew she wasn't. She was far from it. A girl like Cat who had to deal with a family who paid no attention to her and a brother who had schizophrenia wasn't dumb. She was hurt. Like Jade.

Cat and Jade spent a lot of time on Jade's roof together. Jade would draw the view from up there, and Cat would hum the words to a song, watching her. They had been going up to Jade's roof since the day they met. No one from Jade's family had been up there, Jade didn't think, since the only way to get up their was through the window in Jade's room.

One of the things Cat never told people, even Beck, was the day they became friends.

Cat and Jade first saw each other at Jade's mother's funeral. Cat had been crying in the back, and Jade wanted to know why. Jade had never seen the redhead before and it slightly irritated Jade that someone who might not have known her mother was crying for her.

Jade didn't talk to Cat at the funeral, since she was preoccupied.

But the day Cat moved across the street, Jade was sitting on her roof. Jade saw her family moving in next door. So she tracked her down.

"You were at my mother's funeral," Jade said, crossing my arms. "I remember you. You were crying. Why were you crying?" Jade asked her.

"She used to live next door to me," Cat had said, looking up.

"What do you mean? She lived in my house, right over there," Jade said.

"No, no. I used to live downtown. There was an art studio next door to my house. Your mom was always coming in and out of it," Cat told Jade, which confused her. Why would Jade's mother be going in and out of an art studio if she couldn't even do art?

"She was always with the man who owned the studio, in the garden. They only talked. Nothing was going on between them. I could see them from my bedroom window," Cat explained.

"I met her multiple times. She told me she had twin daughters my age," Cat laughed lightheartedly. "I never thought I would meet them."

Jade felt slightly jealous that Cat knew the side of Jade's mom that liked to create art. Because her mom never shared that with Jade or Lydia.

Jade invited Cat over to her house. That's how it started.

It was great for a while. But all good things must come to and end. That's what happened when Tori Vega came to Hollywood Arts.

Tori Vega ruined everything. She shifted the group dynamic. Jade hated the way she just slithered into their friend group, making everybody fall in love with her, because she was nice and smart and a good singer.

Jade could tell Beck liked her. He smirked at her in the way he smirked at all the girls he liked.

Jade's friends, or the ones Jade thought were her friends, starting replacing Jade with Tori. It was fine. Jade was still included in stuff. But it hurt to know that her boyfriend spent more time backing up the new brunette girl than backing up Jade.

Cat stuck by Jade's side, and that's all that mattered.

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	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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"C'mon. It will be fun," Cat chided her. They were talking on Jade's roof and Cat was trying to convince Jade to come to a sleepover Tori had invited them to at her house later that night. Tori had invited them over because Cat had mentioned that her family wasn't going to be home for a while. Jade knew that Tori invited Cat over out of pity, thinking the redheaded girl couldn't take care of herself. And Jade was only invited because Cat asked about it.

"No, Cat. I'm not going," Jade said.

"Please-y! I don't want to go without you," Cat frowned.

"I hate Vega. You know that," Jade sighed.

"Jadey," Cat whined.

"Fine! I'll go," Jade rolled her eyes.

"Yay!" Cat grinned, hugging Jade. Jade allowed it for five seconds before she broke away from it.

Jade and Cat arrived at Tori's house together. They ended up watching two movies before Jade was extremely bored and threatening to leave.

"Wait! No!" Tori had said. "How about we tell funny stories? It can help us get to know each other better."

Jade had internally rolled her eyes. She didn't want to get it know Tori better.

"Well one time, my brother was kicked out of China. We hadn't even made it into China, we were just in the airport, but the security-"

Tori cut Cat off. "No, no," Tori said, as if she was speaking to a child.

Cat frowned but quickly got over it.

"Let's make a video for The Slap," Tori suggested.

Jade groaned, checking her phone that beeped. "Fine. You two can. I'll be upstairs. I need to answer this," Jade scowled.

Jade talked on the phone with Lydia for a couple minutes. Lydia talked about wanting to meet up at the mall in the morning, which Jade was confused by but she didn't reject.

When Jade went downstairs, she found Tori and Cat in footie pajamas, giggling in front of a camera.

"Are you all drunk?" Jade asked, raising her eyebrows.

Cat gasped as if getting drunk was the worst thing in the world.

"I would never get drunk, Jadey!" Cat giggled. Jade rolled her eyes, smirking.

"You guys up for another movie?" Tori asked.

Jade shrugged and they all watched the movie until they fell asleep.

•

Jade went straight from Vega's house to the mall. Lydia was waiting by the entrance.

"Walk with me," Lydia said, taking her over to a bench in the middle of the mall.

"What?" Jade asked, confused.

"I wanted to talk about mom," Lydia said.

"I wanted to do this in a public place in case you freak out or something. I... I found a journal of mom's in dads room. She was cheating on him. And Dad knew," Lydia said.

"Wait, what?" Jade asked, completely taken aback. It wasn't what she had expected.

"She had an art studio-"

Jade cut her off. "Was it downtown," Jade asked. "In a garden?"

Lydia nodded, raising her eyebrows.

"Cat told me about it. Oh my god. Mom used to live next door," Jade sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

"Are you okay, J?" Lydia asked.

"I mean, there's nothing we can do about it. The whole situation just sucks," Jade mumbled.

Lydia hummed in agreement.

After a moment of silence, Jade turns to Lydia.

"Do you hate me?" She asks.

"What? Of course not," Lydia says.

"Then why won't you speak to me unless you have something really important to tell me?" Jade wondered.

"I don't know. I don't know what happened between us, Jade," Lydia turned to her.

"It sucks because... In times like these, when our mom has died and our dad is barely there, we should have each other. But we don't. I don't have you," Jade bit her lip.

Lydia sighed.

"Yes you do. I'll always be here," Lydia mumbled, taking Jade's hand in her own.

Jade moved her hand out of Lydia's grip.

"I wish I believed that," she shook her head, leaving Lydia alone in the middle of the mall.

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	5. Chapter 5

"Jade, I am here for you," Lydia burst into Jade's room. Cat and Tori were at the house for a project. Jade and Cat hadn't had alone time as friends in a while because Tori kept evading their space. Even if it was for school.

"Get out, Lydia. Now is not the time," Jade scowled, glaring.

The second Lydia shut the door, Cat frowned.

"You need to talk to her, Jade," Cat said. "Nothing is ever going to change between you two of you don't talk," Cat told her.

Jade groaned, knowing Cat was right.

"I'm sure we'll talk sometime soon," Jade shrugged, not wanting to deal with her sister who had spent so much of last year ignoring her.

•

"What?" Jade quirked her eyebrows. Lydia had cornered her in their kitchen.

"Can we just have a fresh start? I want to make this work. We used to be best friends. I want that again," Lydia told her.

"You keep saying what you want. You haven't tried to change anything," Jade said pointedly, continuing to work on her Chemistry lab report.

"I've tried talking to you," Lydia said.

"You've tried getting me to talk to you in hopes that we can resolve a couple of years of barely speaking to each other... That's what you really mean," Jade told her.

"Yeah, look. I know both of us have our faults. Can we just, I don't know... Can we go out to dinner tonight? Have a fresh start. Maybe Dad will follow our lead," Lydia said.

"Fine. Let's do it," Jade told her.

They sat across from each other, speaking every now and then. At one point on the middle of the meal, Lydia cracked a joke. Jade giggled, the way she used to whenever Lydia said something funny. They couldn't control themselves. Years of detesting each other was being solved by smiles. Eventually, people started staring because they were laughing too loudly. But it was good. They were happy.

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End file.
